Marketing optimism strong in Americas

19 June 2014

LONDON: Confidence among global marketers remained strong in June according to figures from the latest Warc Global Marketing Index (GMI) although there were signs of a growing divergence of views between the Americas and the rest of the world.

The headline GMI figure, which takes into account marketers' expectations in three key areas – marketing budgets, staffing levels and trading conditions – dropped 1.3 points on the previous month to 56.7 but was up still up 0.8 points over the year.

Warc's GMI is a unique indicator of the state of the global marketing industry. Each month, it tracks conditions among marketers within their organisation and region – a reading of 50 indicates no change from the previous month, while a reading of 60 indicates rapid growth.

Optimism was highest in the Americas for the fourth month running. The region returned a GMI of 59.2, a reading that has been broadly stable since April.

The situation appeared more volatile in Europe and Asia-Pacific, however, as their headline GMIs have declined by 1.5 and 1.8 points respectively since last month, although with scores of 55.7 and 55.2 the outlook was far from gloomy.

The component parts of the index showed more clearly where the regional differences were appearing. In the Americas, the index for trading conditions improved 2.0 points to 62.3 this month, but fell 4.5 points in Europe, to 57.8. Asia Pacific was broadly flat with a slight 0.6 point decline to 59.6.

A similar pattern was evident with regard to the index for marketing budgets, with the Americas leading the way on 56.5, although this was down 1.3 points on the previous month. Asia Pacific remained more or less unchanged on 53.1, while Europe once again saw a sharp drop, of 3.9 points, to 52.8.

In contrast, Europe was markedly more optimistic when it came to staffing levels, as this index jumped from 52.7 to 56.5. The Americas saw a modest 1.1 point decline to 58.8 while Asia Pacific plunged five points to 53.1.

Commenting on the figures, Suzy Young, Data and Journals Director at Warc, said: "Our June data continue to signal positive conditions for global marketers, especially in the Americas. The headline index for the region has been consistent in recent months, with readings fluctuating by just 0.7 points since April."